


Sleepless

by juiceboxjellyfish



Series: Carry On Countdown 2017 [19]
Category: Carry On - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Carry On Countdown (Simon Snow), Carry On Countdown 2017, Early Mornings, First Kiss, Getting Together, Kissing, Late Nights, M/M, Sleep Deprivation, Sleepy Kisses, SnowBaz, Truth or Dare, at watford, sleepy, staying up late
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-13
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2019-02-14 11:52:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13007208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juiceboxjellyfish/pseuds/juiceboxjellyfish
Summary: Simon can't sleep, and neither can Baz. They decide to keep each other company, and their sleepiness allows them to get along much better than usual.





	Sleepless

SIMON

I can’t sleep. The once pitch black room doesn’t look that dark anymore, and I’m not sure if it’s just my eyes adjusting or if the sun’s actually about to rise. When I last looked at the clock it had just passed midnight, and I don’t know if it’s been hours or minutes since then. My wide awake, exhausted mind let go of time as a concept long ago. Or at least I think it was long ago. It might’ve been thirty seconds ago. I have no clue. 

Baz has been gone all night. He left as I was going to bed, and hasn’t returned yet. Maybe something happened to him. Maybe he did something to someone. Maybe he’s going to do something to me and is waiting for me to fall asleep. Well joke’s on him, that’s not happening any time soon! 

Watford is very quiet at night. The world is still, apart from a light wind tugging at the treetops in the Wavering Woods and the occasional splash from a merewolf in the moat below. A thin mist lies like a blanket over the school grounds, giving the castle an otherworldly and timeless feeling. The unnatural silence doesn’t help. I must be the only one who’s awake right now, except for Baz, wherever he is. Despite knowing it’s impossible, I feel like I could hear where he is if I really listened. Any noise at all would seem loud in this silence. I can hear the faint snoring of someone in a room below ours. 

An eternity or a few seconds later, I actually do hear Baz. There are light footsteps outside the door, slowly making their way up the otherwise silent staircase. When he approaches the final steps, I consider pretending to be asleep as he enters the rom, but I decide not to. He’d probably be able to tell I was faking anyway. The door slides open just enough for a person to enter. All this sneaking is either highly suspicious or surprisingly considerate.  
Baz enters the room, and almost jumps backwards when he sees me sitting wide awake on the bed.  
“Crowley Snow” he whispers, shutting the door behind him. “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”  
“Oh you thought I was sleeping? Were you going to attack me?” I ask. He sighs.  
“Obviously not, Snow. I just didn’t think you were awake. I’m not actually constantly plotting your downfall.”  
“That’s exactly what someone who’s plotting my downfall would say” I mutter. Baz gives me a death glare, and the dark circles under his eyes make it even more intimidating. Unfortunately for him, the exhaustion has eaten all my sense of self preservation. If I ever had any.  
“What have you been doing then? Vampire stuff?” I ask.  
“Yes” he says dryly. “I was out draining students of blood, and now I’m letting you know because I want to get caught. Great interrogation technique, Snow”  
“Well if you weren’t plotting my downfall or doing mysterious vampire stuff, what were you doing all night?”  
“None of your business” he snarls, and goes to get changed.

 

BAZ

I was doing vampire stuff. Chasing down rats in the catacombs, to be more specific. And while I wasn’t plotting against him, I did think a lot about Snow. So his guesses were actually pretty spot on. Usually I would get this done in less than an hour and then sneak back into the bedroom and go to sleep, but I was incredibly distracted tonight. For whatever reason, Simon’s unfortunate presence in my life was bothering me more than usual. I tried not to think about it, but it was hopeless. I didn’t want to go back to the room and actually have to look at him, so I put it up for as long as I could possibly justify it.  
I didn’t even consider that he might still be awake. 

I try to go to sleep but I can feel Simon staring at me, and it doesn’t take long for me to realise that it won’t work. I sit back up and just as i suspected, my eyes meet Snow’s. He doesn’t even look away.  
“It seems like neither of us can sleep tonight” I say.  
“It does” Snow replies.  
“What’s keeping you up?” I ask. Maybe we can actually have a conversation, now that Simon is sleep deprived and too tired to fight.  
“Nightmares” he states. “Or insomnia, or both. You?”  
Images of my endless romantic fantasies about Snow flash before my eyes before I respond.  
“Something similar.”  
He nods thoughtfully and then sighs.  
“It’s exhausting, isn’t it?” he asks, but it’s more of a statement than a question. I nod anyway.  
“Do you think you’ll be able to sleep at all tonight?” I ask.  
“No” he sighs.  
“Me neither. Guess we’re stuck talking to each other then.”  
“I guess so.”

Talking is so much easier when it’s late and your filter has started to dissolve. We’ve never been polite to each other for this long before, but neither of us would have enough energy to fight even if we wanted to. We don’t want to though. At least I don’t, and Simon isn’t showing any signs of anger either. It’s like this moment exists in a bubble that’s separated from the rest of the world, were neither time nor magickal wars exist, and nobody expects us to be enemies.  
I want to stay in the bubble.

 

SIMON

We end up sitting on Baz’s bed and playing a game of truth or dare that’s more like truth or truth, since neither of us have the energy to do anything physically challenging. Besides, there aren’t that many dares you can do in the room in the middle of the night anyway, especially not without waking up the rest of the house.

“Truth or dare, Simon?” Baz whispers.  
“Truth” I whisper back. “Just like the last seventeen rounds.”  
“Okay. Do you watch me sleep?” he asks.  
“Yes, but only to make sure you’re not plotting” I admit.  
“Hah, knew it” he mumbles, and I chuckle softly.  
“Okay Baz, truth or dare?”  
“Truth.”  
“Why do you hate me?” I ask. Baz looks at me silently for a few seconds, thinking intensely.  
“Because I’m supposed to. Because my family doesn’t like the Mage and they expect me to hate you. So I guess I don’t actually hate you” he confesses. “Why do you hate me?” he adds.  
“Hey, I didn’t get to choose” I point out.  
“Were you going to choose dare?”  
“No.”  
“Exactly. So, why do you hate me?”  
“Because you’re a twat.”  
“Hey!” Baz pushes my shoulder lightly, and I giggle.  
“I’m kidding. I guess I don’t hate you either, if I think about it.”

 

BAZ

The sun is starting to rise. It’s turning the sky light pink and shining through the mist that lies over the grounds, creating an unreal and dreamlike effect. It feels as if nothing that’s said or done in this room will have any real life-consequences. The truth or dare continues, with questions that vary from “what do you think the meaning of life is?” (“it’s meaningless” “that’s really dark”) to “if you had to, would you rather kiss the Humdrum or the Mage?” (“the humdrum” “why?” “he’s cuter” “he looks like me” “yeah, you’re cuter than the fucking mage, Snow. that’s barely even a compliment”). 

“Baz, truth or dare?” Snow asks.  
“Truth” I sigh, because the question seems kind of unnecessary at this point. It’s been truth every single time.  
“Did you ever like Agatha?” he asks. I almost start laughing. Is that something he’s worried about?  
“No, I’m gay” I reply. “Snow, truth or dare?” He doesn’t answer immediately. He’s looking at me, completely caught off guard. But he doesn’t say anything.  
“Truth” he mumbles.  
“Do you still like Agatha?” I ask because he brought it up.  
“No” he states. “Truth or dare Baz?”  
“Truth.”  
“Have you ever kissed a boy?” he whispers.  
“No” I say. “Truth or dare?”  
“Truth.”  
“Have you?” I ask, even though I think I know the answer.  
He shakes his head.  
“Baz, truth or dare?”  
“Dare” I respond, and that makes the first dare of this entire game of truth or dare. These truths are getting very personal very fast. Simon is surprised that I didn't say truth and just stares at me for a couple of seconds.  
“Okay” he mumbles. “I dare you to kiss me.”  
And I do.

 

SIMON

I’m so tired, and I stopped having a filter long ago. Which is why I let myself say that dare. The light that’s shining through the window bathes the whole room in an otherworldly atmosphere, and it makes the soft and tired kiss feel even more dreamlike. Baz’s lips are so gentle against mine, and it feels like so much more than a stupid dare made up by a tired and impulsive brain.  
It feels like everything I’ve ever wanted and more than I’ve ever needed. Baz’s skin is cold against mine and his hands are in my hair and my stomach feels like sunshine, and I think to myself that this is worth all the sleep deprivation in the world.

When I finally fall asleep, my face is resting against Baz’s neck and I can still taste him on my lips.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, sorry this was so late! When I post this it's like 23:40 here, so it's still on time but yikes  
> I'm getting worse at this
> 
> Anyway please leave a comment! I love comments!


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